HP preps channel for Autonomy products

No date, but "on their way".

HP has been slow to roll out Autonomy products to the channel, but with a dedicated channel chief now in place, that is set to change.

For the past six weeks, Stephen Reny, senior vice president of market development for Autonomy, has been working on the framework for a worldwide channel program for Autonomy, which HP acquired last October in a blockbuster $US10.3 billion deal aimed at boosting its software portfolio.

Autonomy didn't previously have a channel chief, part of the reason HP partners haven't had a chance to sell products. But HP confirmed it is planning to align Autonomy with PartnerONE and AllianceONE programs.

Reny declined to specify when this would happen, noting that the breadth of Autonomy's product portfolio necessitates a strategic and measured approach.

"We have to define our own program [within HP's channel programs]. We need to make sure partners are enabled to sell the solution that is best for the customer's need," he told CRN.

Autonomy's Intelligent Data Operating Layer, a search and data processing technology built into many Autonomy products, is on the radar of many HP partners. IDOL, which also is available as a stand-alone server, analyses streams of so-called unstructured data -- emails, voice, video and social media -- to identify patterns of meaning.

HP has not authorised all of its partners to sell Autonomy because not all products fit with their expertise, Reny said. In addition to IDOL, Autonomy also sells security and compliance, backup and recovery, content management, and online advertising products, among others.

Autonomy has more than 500 OEM partners that license IDOL for use in their products. Autonomy provides them with "connectors" they can use to build IDOL into their apps, and many vendors embed components of IDOL into their products, Reny said.

HP has already encountered plenty of turmoil with Autonomy, including the firing of co-founder and CEO Mike Lynch in May after second-quarter sales figures that HP CEO Meg Whitman described as "disappointing." Most of Autonomy's senior executive leaders have also left since the acquisition.

Getting Autonomy products into the hands of channel partners could amount to some much needed positive news for HP -- not to mention soothe lingering angst about the amount HP paid to acquire the company.

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